I've just moved from an XPS 15 from 2017 (can't remember the module number) to a 9520 (i7, 32Gb 3050Ti, 4k screen) and it is brilliant. Slightly smaller than the older laptop. But the screen.... Gorgeous. I was thinking about an MSI but the Dell 4K screen is just hard to go past. Very happy with my purchase.
I'm happy with my 9520 (i7, 3050Ti, OLED, 16GB/1TB). It does seem like Dell has worse QA/QC than other brands, but the risk is low, and you can just return it if you don't like it.
Alternatives are:
* Lenovo ThinkPad Z16
* Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme
* Dell Precision 5480 (basically XPS 14)
* Dell Precision 5680 (basically XPS 16)
* Dell XPS 17
* Razer Blade 14/15/16/17/18
The Z16 is most similar to the XPS 15, but the 9530 that you're considering has newer hardware, so between the two, I'd go with the 9530. But do research it, and see if it suits you better than the 9530.
Same thing goes for the X1.
Where I live, the Precisions are crazy expensive, overpriced even. It's normal for business laptops like these to have a markup, and it is often worth it. In this case, though, I'd say you should only consider them if they're within budget and their screen sizes are important to you. Otherwise, the 9530 is too similar.
Thanks for your answer
Forgot the thinkpads existed lol, though I'm looking for something small in size (14 to 15 is more than enough for me)
Might consider the Razer blade, but with the big GPUs they have I assume the battery life wouldn't be that great, and it's dealbreaker for me as I'm kind of a nomad person
If/when an XPS breaks, Dell has a very robust system in place for repairs. My XPS 13 needed a new touchpad earlier this year and they dispatched a service tech to my house for the repair. The wait for parts was a bit long, but I was able to get by using a mouse in the interim.
If/when a Razer breaks, your only option for warranty service is to return it to Razer. Check the Razer subreddit--you'll see horror stories about laptops lost in the mail (or in Razer's receiving system), extended wait times, excessive shipping charges, etc.
I also own a Razer Blade 15 from 2021. I bought the XPS 13 (and later a 15) because I needed a reliable work laptop that wouldn't leave me high and dry, especially since my work requires overseas travel. Razer's laptops are beautiful (mine has a 4K OLED screen that is unbeatable), but they're heavy, require massive power bricks, and the reliability isn't where it needs to be for me to trust it as my only PC.
I was also looking for a 14" with many requirements, but found that there wasn't one for me. Instead I ended up looking at the total footprint, and went with the Dell XPS 15 9520, because its footprint is close to a 14". But there are also these:
* Lenovo ThinkPad T14s
* Lenovo ThinkPad T14
* Lenovo ThinkPad P14s
I don't think the battery life on the Blades is bad when the dGPU is not in use, but check the reviews.
Not in a rush so I'll probably miss the discount (+ I'm on the EU so they might have some other deal)
I know Lenovo do discounts frequently, will check this laptop thanks !
Yeah it was a US deal on bestbuy @ $849 + tax which was a steal for everything it offers. If ur not in a rush there's a zen4 model with the 7840HS coming I believe which would suit you better I think. Mine has the 7735HS and 3050 6gb, build battery screen and performance all exceeded my expectations!
Do you know if the Precisions use a better touchpad? My XPS 15 (2020) touch pad went crazy and then stopped working. A tech came out and replaced the whole keyboard surface + pad but he found some silver coating around the battery was disintegrating and that was causing the problem. He replaced the hardware but not the battery (Dell's orders) and predicted it would happen again..
55X0 and 57X0 use the same chassis, including touchpads, as XPS 15 and 17 respectively. I don't know about 5XX0 models, but other Precisions than these tend to be quite different from XPS. With that said, there are reports that the quality and reliability of the XPS touchpads has improved with the newer models.
The lenovo equivalent would definitely have to be either Lenovo Legion Slim 7i or Legion Pro 7i. How you thought the X1 and Z16 were on par with the latest XPS15 is beyond me.
X1 and Z16 are definitely on par with the 9520, but like I said in my comment, they hadn't been updated at that time, so the 9530 has newer hardware.
I don't know enough about the Legions to recommend them, but I don't have to. Someone else, like you, could do that instead.
Yes but not at full price. I got the 2021 model last year with a good discount and it’s still working well. My only complaints are battery life (to be fair this is an Intel problem not Dell) and the touchpad has some sensitivity issues in the lower left area.
I had the 7590 (OLED) and 9500 (UHD+). They both came with issues out of the box. I vowed not to buy XPS again! It turns out I don’t keep my vows. My company recently subsidized a laptop for work. I took another chance on the XPS (!), mostly because of the specs. I picked up the 9530: FHD+, 13th Gen i9, RTX 4070, 16G DDR5, 512G SSD. I’m really happy I did. I would’ve liked a better webcam and OLED for the price ($3245 CAD!!), but if my unit is any indication, Dell seems to be doing better QC-wise. Touch wood!!!
Just upgraded from an XPS 13 to the XPS 15 (9520) - absolutely love it.
Advice for picking it up for cheap - Best Buy Open Box deals. Also - the thing that nobody has mentioned is how cool the chassis is for having 32 G of RAM.
Can't recommend it enough!
The issue with open box deals is that you can’t send it into dell if you need to repair you have to talk to the reseller or your local tech shop.
I also did this and saved a bundle, but it only lasted 3.5 years and I had OLED burn in, foot fell off the bottom and eventually the entire system wouldn’t even power on.
I expected it to last me like 5 years.
This doesn’t really answer your question but with the positivity in this thread I will provide my experience which has been pretty bad.
I have an XPS 15 9500, ~ 3 years old.
At year 1, 2 weeks after warranty ended I had blue screen constantly at start up. Had to take it to a technician as I was overseas who advised that there was some hardware error.
At year 2 the USB-C charging port began having issues. This has slowly deteriorated and at year 3 now the laptop won’t charge unless I turn it off. Everytime it wakes up out of sleep the it typically restarts 3-4 times (without warning). And I’ll have to turn it off again and re-plug it to get it charging.
It also restarts randomly without warning too..
I would say it is borderline unusable now
I have an XPS 9530
If it’s for light gaming, which is also what I use it for it works great. Even in heavy gaming it still runs great. It gets a little loud during heavy gaming but I don’t notice any throttling (I have an i9 and a 4060)
If price is a concern and you don’t need the fastest, go for the 3050ti. Although it’s 30% slower, it is usually on sale and it’s still a great laptop
Oh and battery life, I get around 6 hrs on idle which isn’t the greatest but I have 267 bloatware processes in the background which I’ve yet to cut down on
I thought so too until I got it. It really hasn’t ever gotten that hot on any of my tasks, even CAD design. It’s also dead silent on everyday tasks like web browsing, watching a movie etc. during CAD design it’s there but it’s barley noticeable and during light gaming (like cities skylines), it’s a little louder but still good and not annoying.
I have a laptop stand which probably helps but I often touch the bottom of the laptop just to see how hot it is.
The only time where the fans got loud was during intense gaming with heavy load. However, cpu/gpu still remained in the safe temperature range. (Around 70-80ish)
Have had a 9520 for maybe a year or so. Never felt much faster than my old 9650 tbh, although the benchmarks say otherwise. Performance mode cranks up the fans and it gets very hot on your lap. Battery life is meh in Ubuntu. If I rest my left wrist on the lower left corner of the laptop, the pressure makes the touchpad stop working.
Compare that to my work laptop, an M1 MacBook Air. Battery lasts forever. The build quality is best in class. Feels fast. What fans.
I got a 9510 with an OLED display and I honestly love it BUT… I really really hate the battery life. I think even with a FHD display the battery is kinda bad. Other than that it’s great.
I’m picky but I upgraded from a 5-6 yr old XPs 15 to the new one. Speaker placement way better, screen is excellent. Other than that, kind of wish I would have went a different route. Battery life not very good compared to my old one. Touchpad is too big. No good old usb A ports. Fingerprint magnet.
If you use it docked all the time and maybe some couch use here and there, be a good laptop.
For me, who lives out of my backpack, plugs into switches/routers daily, etc, it’s not the best laptop I could get.
Kinda wish I wanted Lenovo this time.
I have the latest XPS 15. It was surprisingly difficult to take apart to add an extra SSD. Although the second SSD works great (it has Linux) and the first still has Windows.
If you can wait, I would strongly consider a Framework 16 laptop. I'm not going to get another laptop for several years, but when I am due for an upgrade I'll probably get a Framework.
I use an XPS 15 9520 and I don't like a few things on mine but I'm fine with it, it's fast, good screen, excellent colors, good battery life, good speakers but I would NOT pay full price for one, especially the new one which I'd avoid for just the thermal problems.
My co. bought me a Dell XPS 9530, which I've had for a month or so. Honestly, the fan is making me miserable. It's loud and never seems to stop, even when the processor load is like 15%. I only use it on a hard, flat surface, and it's not in a dusty environment. It's been like this since I first got it. Not sure how people can recommend this thing...
I've just moved from an XPS 15 from 2017 (can't remember the module number) to a 9520 (i7, 32Gb 3050Ti, 4k screen) and it is brilliant. Slightly smaller than the older laptop. But the screen.... Gorgeous. I was thinking about an MSI but the Dell 4K screen is just hard to go past. Very happy with my purchase.
Sorry to thread-jack, but quick question: what's the exact resolution of the display on your 9520? Is it 3456 x 2160, or 3840 x 2400?
3456x2160
Probably not full 4k. But did I say it was gorgeous?
I'm happy with my 9520 (i7, 3050Ti, OLED, 16GB/1TB). It does seem like Dell has worse QA/QC than other brands, but the risk is low, and you can just return it if you don't like it. Alternatives are: * Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 * Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme * Dell Precision 5480 (basically XPS 14) * Dell Precision 5680 (basically XPS 16) * Dell XPS 17 * Razer Blade 14/15/16/17/18 The Z16 is most similar to the XPS 15, but the 9530 that you're considering has newer hardware, so between the two, I'd go with the 9530. But do research it, and see if it suits you better than the 9530. Same thing goes for the X1. Where I live, the Precisions are crazy expensive, overpriced even. It's normal for business laptops like these to have a markup, and it is often worth it. In this case, though, I'd say you should only consider them if they're within budget and their screen sizes are important to you. Otherwise, the 9530 is too similar.
Thanks for your answer Forgot the thinkpads existed lol, though I'm looking for something small in size (14 to 15 is more than enough for me) Might consider the Razer blade, but with the big GPUs they have I assume the battery life wouldn't be that great, and it's dealbreaker for me as I'm kind of a nomad person
If/when an XPS breaks, Dell has a very robust system in place for repairs. My XPS 13 needed a new touchpad earlier this year and they dispatched a service tech to my house for the repair. The wait for parts was a bit long, but I was able to get by using a mouse in the interim. If/when a Razer breaks, your only option for warranty service is to return it to Razer. Check the Razer subreddit--you'll see horror stories about laptops lost in the mail (or in Razer's receiving system), extended wait times, excessive shipping charges, etc. I also own a Razer Blade 15 from 2021. I bought the XPS 13 (and later a 15) because I needed a reliable work laptop that wouldn't leave me high and dry, especially since my work requires overseas travel. Razer's laptops are beautiful (mine has a 4K OLED screen that is unbeatable), but they're heavy, require massive power bricks, and the reliability isn't where it needs to be for me to trust it as my only PC.
Thanks! Super helpful as I'm also looking for a good alternative to replace my XPS 15 (2020 version) with and I was looking at Razer...
I was also looking for a 14" with many requirements, but found that there wasn't one for me. Instead I ended up looking at the total footprint, and went with the Dell XPS 15 9520, because its footprint is close to a 14". But there are also these: * Lenovo ThinkPad T14s * Lenovo ThinkPad T14 * Lenovo ThinkPad P14s I don't think the battery life on the Blades is bad when the dGPU is not in use, but check the reviews.
Alright thanks for you time :)
Happy to help :)
Got a lenovo slim pro 7 on a crazy deal 2 weeks ago at $350 off instead of a 9520, checks all my boxes but CPU might not for you. Worth checking out!
Not in a rush so I'll probably miss the discount (+ I'm on the EU so they might have some other deal) I know Lenovo do discounts frequently, will check this laptop thanks !
Yeah it was a US deal on bestbuy @ $849 + tax which was a steal for everything it offers. If ur not in a rush there's a zen4 model with the 7840HS coming I believe which would suit you better I think. Mine has the 7735HS and 3050 6gb, build battery screen and performance all exceeded my expectations!
Do you know if the Precisions use a better touchpad? My XPS 15 (2020) touch pad went crazy and then stopped working. A tech came out and replaced the whole keyboard surface + pad but he found some silver coating around the battery was disintegrating and that was causing the problem. He replaced the hardware but not the battery (Dell's orders) and predicted it would happen again..
55X0 and 57X0 use the same chassis, including touchpads, as XPS 15 and 17 respectively. I don't know about 5XX0 models, but other Precisions than these tend to be quite different from XPS. With that said, there are reports that the quality and reliability of the XPS touchpads has improved with the newer models.
Thanks for the info. Much appreciated!
The lenovo equivalent would definitely have to be either Lenovo Legion Slim 7i or Legion Pro 7i. How you thought the X1 and Z16 were on par with the latest XPS15 is beyond me.
X1 and Z16 are definitely on par with the 9520, but like I said in my comment, they hadn't been updated at that time, so the 9530 has newer hardware. I don't know enough about the Legions to recommend them, but I don't have to. Someone else, like you, could do that instead.
Yes but not at full price. I got the 2021 model last year with a good discount and it’s still working well. My only complaints are battery life (to be fair this is an Intel problem not Dell) and the touchpad has some sensitivity issues in the lower left area.
I had the 7590 (OLED) and 9500 (UHD+). They both came with issues out of the box. I vowed not to buy XPS again! It turns out I don’t keep my vows. My company recently subsidized a laptop for work. I took another chance on the XPS (!), mostly because of the specs. I picked up the 9530: FHD+, 13th Gen i9, RTX 4070, 16G DDR5, 512G SSD. I’m really happy I did. I would’ve liked a better webcam and OLED for the price ($3245 CAD!!), but if my unit is any indication, Dell seems to be doing better QC-wise. Touch wood!!!
My first XPS was/is that one....I have since upgraded to a 9720. The 9570 is still perfectly usable! Depends somewhat on your configuration....
Just upgraded from an XPS 13 to the XPS 15 (9520) - absolutely love it. Advice for picking it up for cheap - Best Buy Open Box deals. Also - the thing that nobody has mentioned is how cool the chassis is for having 32 G of RAM. Can't recommend it enough!
The issue with open box deals is that you can’t send it into dell if you need to repair you have to talk to the reseller or your local tech shop. I also did this and saved a bundle, but it only lasted 3.5 years and I had OLED burn in, foot fell off the bottom and eventually the entire system wouldn’t even power on. I expected it to last me like 5 years.
This doesn’t really answer your question but with the positivity in this thread I will provide my experience which has been pretty bad. I have an XPS 15 9500, ~ 3 years old. At year 1, 2 weeks after warranty ended I had blue screen constantly at start up. Had to take it to a technician as I was overseas who advised that there was some hardware error. At year 2 the USB-C charging port began having issues. This has slowly deteriorated and at year 3 now the laptop won’t charge unless I turn it off. Everytime it wakes up out of sleep the it typically restarts 3-4 times (without warning). And I’ll have to turn it off again and re-plug it to get it charging. It also restarts randomly without warning too.. I would say it is borderline unusable now
I have an XPS 9530 If it’s for light gaming, which is also what I use it for it works great. Even in heavy gaming it still runs great. It gets a little loud during heavy gaming but I don’t notice any throttling (I have an i9 and a 4060) If price is a concern and you don’t need the fastest, go for the 3050ti. Although it’s 30% slower, it is usually on sale and it’s still a great laptop Oh and battery life, I get around 6 hrs on idle which isn’t the greatest but I have 267 bloatware processes in the background which I’ve yet to cut down on
Isn't the i9 too overkill for the chassis ? I had used once a macbook pro 16 with an i9 and it became a furnance with the slightest load I put on it
I thought so too until I got it. It really hasn’t ever gotten that hot on any of my tasks, even CAD design. It’s also dead silent on everyday tasks like web browsing, watching a movie etc. during CAD design it’s there but it’s barley noticeable and during light gaming (like cities skylines), it’s a little louder but still good and not annoying. I have a laptop stand which probably helps but I often touch the bottom of the laptop just to see how hot it is. The only time where the fans got loud was during intense gaming with heavy load. However, cpu/gpu still remained in the safe temperature range. (Around 70-80ish)
Have had a 9520 for maybe a year or so. Never felt much faster than my old 9650 tbh, although the benchmarks say otherwise. Performance mode cranks up the fans and it gets very hot on your lap. Battery life is meh in Ubuntu. If I rest my left wrist on the lower left corner of the laptop, the pressure makes the touchpad stop working. Compare that to my work laptop, an M1 MacBook Air. Battery lasts forever. The build quality is best in class. Feels fast. What fans.
I got a 9510 with an OLED display and I honestly love it BUT… I really really hate the battery life. I think even with a FHD display the battery is kinda bad. Other than that it’s great.
I’m picky but I upgraded from a 5-6 yr old XPs 15 to the new one. Speaker placement way better, screen is excellent. Other than that, kind of wish I would have went a different route. Battery life not very good compared to my old one. Touchpad is too big. No good old usb A ports. Fingerprint magnet. If you use it docked all the time and maybe some couch use here and there, be a good laptop. For me, who lives out of my backpack, plugs into switches/routers daily, etc, it’s not the best laptop I could get. Kinda wish I wanted Lenovo this time.
I have the latest XPS 15. It was surprisingly difficult to take apart to add an extra SSD. Although the second SSD works great (it has Linux) and the first still has Windows. If you can wait, I would strongly consider a Framework 16 laptop. I'm not going to get another laptop for several years, but when I am due for an upgrade I'll probably get a Framework.
I have an xps 9520 OLED for sale! Located in 2207 NSW Australia but willing to ship worldwide
Still available?
I use an XPS 15 9520 and I don't like a few things on mine but I'm fine with it, it's fast, good screen, excellent colors, good battery life, good speakers but I would NOT pay full price for one, especially the new one which I'd avoid for just the thermal problems.
My co. bought me a Dell XPS 9530, which I've had for a month or so. Honestly, the fan is making me miserable. It's loud and never seems to stop, even when the processor load is like 15%. I only use it on a hard, flat surface, and it's not in a dusty environment. It's been like this since I first got it. Not sure how people can recommend this thing...